


When the past catches up to you, maybe it's for the best

by queenlokibeth



Category: X-Men (Movieverse), X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) - Fandom
Genre: Alex Is Alive, Angry Erik, Angry Kissing, Anxiety, Calm Down Erik, Charles Always Says the Absolute Worst Thing He Could Possibly Say, Charles Being Concerned, Charles Getting Uncomfortable, Charles You Slut, Charles You Will Be Drunk, Charles has hair, Charles in a Wheelchair, Charles is a Professor, Dissociation, Erik Has Feelings, Erik Logic Is The Best Logic, Erik is a Troll, F/M, First Kiss, Hank Being Awesome, Hook-Up, Implied Relationships, Implied/Referenced Torture, Like really slow, M/M, Mutant Powers, Not Canon Compliant, Past Relationship(s), Post-Canon, Post-X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), Sassy Raven, Slow Build, but it is, canon divergence - post X-Men: Apocalypse, it's not even the main thing i guess
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-02
Updated: 2016-06-15
Packaged: 2018-07-11 17:19:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7062169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenlokibeth/pseuds/queenlokibeth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Canon divergence after the events of Apocalypse and slightly not canon compliant.</p><p>It's been more than a few months after the disaster and the explosion that blew up the mansion and Erik is also miraculously there. Hank wants to rebuild the war plane he had been building for the X-Men, but upon a special request from Xavier, he needs someone else's help. Neither Erik nor Charles could have expected who they would have to face and where it would lead them.</p><p>(Can't add anything else without spoiling, sorry!)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Introduction

"I'm building it again." Said Hank rising his eyebrows in an I-will-do-whatever-I-want-and-you-can't-stop-me-no-matter-what-you-say way.  
Charles sighed and ran a hand tiredly down his face. "Hank, please. It's not necessary. As you can see, the world is now accepting us. You might as well accept them."  
Hank nodded, not convinced at all. "If it's not people, or the government, there might still be threats. Charles, the children are training right now downstairs with Raven. That's not for nothing."  
Charles sighed for what seemed like the millionth time since Hank entered his office. "Alright. Go build the plane. Give it some upgrades, will you?" He finally gave in, a small smile playing on his face.  
"It already has stealth technology!" The doctor appeared offended.  
Charles rolled his eyes and backed away from his desk, meaning to leave the room, but stopped to say: "We met some interesting powers during the last events. Try to get it to be unaffected by them."  
Hank furrowed his brows "What do you even mean by that? Do you want the plane to be Erik-proof or what? It's going to end up being a paper plane. Light." He accentuated what he meant my doing a gesture as if he was lifting something.  
Charles laughed "I don't know. You figure that out, my friend."  



	2. Chapter 2

A few days later, Hank figured it out. He realized exactly how to make the X-Men plane power-proof. He couldn't do it, though.   
"Charles!" He called out down the hall when he saw the professor coming his way.  
"Yes, Hank?" Xavier asked when he was within earshot.  
"I can do it." He told him, beaming with excitement. When Charles looked confused, he explained. "Upgrade the plane. I mean, I know how to, but I can't. I need someone else's help."  
Now it was the professors turn to furrow his eyebrows. "Whose?"  
The doctor went on to explain how someone he knew from university (who actually lectured on introduction to applied physics in environmental chemistry voluntarily) had very special abilities that could be applied to the carcass of the aircraft, if only he knew how they worked.  
"Well, we shall go find her." Charles smiled. "Tell Raven and Erik. We're flying out as soon as we can."  
4 hours later, the 4 of them sat on one of Charles' personal jets, piloted by Doctor McCoy.  
"I could seriously get used to this." Said Raven as she sipped a flute of champagne. "I feel so fancy." Then she shifted into Marilyn Monroe  
Erik snorted a laugh. "Don't get too comfortable, you never know what could happen." And a mere 10 seconds later, the plane shook and dipped.  
"MOTHERF- stop it, Erik." Charles said holding onto his seat and reprimanding him with his expression. Erik just laughed.  
Raven, back in her blue form, stood up.  
"I'm going to wash the champagne off me, and when I'm back, I expect my glass to be full. And a sandwich." She said pointedly looking at Erik. He just shrugged.  
Charles lifted the chess set from under the table and placed it in the table between the two men, the white pieces to his side.  
"Fancy playing?" Charles looked up at Erik who had stood up and was heading towards the kitchen area.  
"Of course." Said Erik from where he was taking a plate from the cupboard. Charles made his move.  
Erik looked back at the board and a black horse moved. Simultaneously, the mini fridge door opened by itself and Erik pulled out sliced bread, peanut butter ("why is peanut butter stored in the fridge?" He wondered) and raspberry jam. Charles had moved another piece and Erik considered his new move. At the same time a pawn skipped forward and a knife floated from a drawer.  
"The bananas are in the basket behind the door." Charles informed him as he looked at the chess board.  
Erik raised an eyebrow and slowly move to look behind the door.  
"Don't worry, old friend, I wasn't looking into your mind. I know how Rave likes her sandwiches too." He chuckled.  
When Raven came out of the bathroom she saw chess pieces moving rapidly and a knife moving on its own, spreading and cutting, while Erik stood sipping scotch. A full flute waited at her seat. She walked towards the counter once the sandwich was ready without disturbing her two companions. "Thank you, Erik." She smirked ironically when she walked past them. She chose to sit by Hank in the cockpit. They should probably talk. Before they could even look at each other, Erik appeared leaning against the entrance between the flight deck and aircraft cabin, Charles sitting at his side, all traces of the game forgotten.  
"So, Hank, we don't know anything about this woman. Would you mind telling us?" Charles asked. He knew they had him cornered, in case there was anything uncomfortable.  
Hank shrugged. "What can I say, she's rich, could easily spend $500 on cheese at once, has an attitude for the ages if you try her. She's a lot like you, actually." He pointed out smirking. Raven laughed around a bite of sandwich.  
Erik pursed his lips. "Sounds like a handful."  
Charles hit him behind the knee. "Fuck off." And then he rolled back to his previous spot.  
It was going to be a long trip.


	3. Chapter 3

The four mutants looked up at the building. Really up, it was gigantic.

“This lady works here?” Raven pondered to no one in particular, a blonde eyebrow quirking.

“Owns it.” Replied Hank, not looking down yet. Charles whistled, Erik tried to not look impressed (and failed) and Raven screwed up her face in disbelief.

“Shall we?” Decided Charles, and into the lobby they went. “Erik, would you please disable the elevators towards the top? We wouldn’t want anyone getting in the way.”

“Why? We are just going to speak to her, as far as I’m aware.” He looked suspicious.

Hank hesitated. “She’s not actually, uhm, publicly, a mutant, if you could say so. She’s an important figure and wouldn’t like it getting in the way of her academic success.”

Erik muttered his agreement and headed in another direction. The other three made their way up, easily forgoing security.

At their destination, they got out onto a spacious waiting area with modern décor where a single receptionist sat behind a huge glass desk. Raven nodded in her direction before she saw them and Charles made sure she never did. They moved along a lengthy grey hall that ended at a pair of dark brown doors, behind which talking could be heard.

“She must be with someone, let me go in and explain what’s going on before you go in so she doesn’t freak out.” Hank stage-whispered before heading to knock on the door. A female voice told him to go in.

“I’m half expecting this to be a crazy cat lady or an ultra-conservative, uptight bitch who can’t accept what she was born with.” Raven told Charles. They stood a few feet away from the door Hank had just disappeared behind.

Her friend tsked disapprovingly. “Patience. Don’t judge her yet, you never know. There’s a reason why Dr. McCoy thought convenient to bring us here.”

More conversation could be heard from the inside. “That’s weird.” Charles mused.

“What is?” The other mutant asked.

“I can clearly hear 4 voices: Hank’s and 3 other women’s’” He said. Raven squinted and signalled him to go on. “I can only feel 3 people.” He finished slowly. She seemed surprised but shrugged.

Then, the door opened and Hank popped out. “Everything’s cool, you can come in.” He seemed relieved.

Charles wheeled himself in first, Raven following him. At first he noticed a really tall woman with short dark hair in a grey t-shirt and dark pants who looked familiar, and next to her another woman who looked slightly older but still really young with long curly grey hair and a white blouse over a black pencil skirt; both where sat on a black, leather L-Shaped couch off to the left of the room. Hank had begun introducing them just as he noticed the third woman who sat behind a wide desk in front of the massive windows that let in the view of the New York skyline. She was no old lady, wore a tight blue and graphite work dress and had long dark hair.

“Raven, Charles, this is Dr. R-“ but he was interrupted by the man himself.

“Dr. Raff. Hello.” Suddenly he didn’t appear to be as at ease as before.

“Professor Xavier.” She acknowledged with a curt nod. Her eyes narrowed and her jaw tightened. In turn, the professor’s mouth hang slightly agape and the woman with short hair cleared her throat. When he looked at her, she had amusement written all over her face.

“I believe we have met as well, Professor.” Her tone sounded vaguely mocking and her eyes glistened with something mischievous when she cast a quick glance towards her two friends and then back at Charles.

He quickly shook his head. “Of course, my apologies. Nice… uh… to see you, Dr. Dalton.” She smirked and stood up. “We have a meeting to get to, so we better get going. Right, Agnes?” The one with curly hair nodded inconspicuously, grabbed a purse and stood up as well.

“We can catch up over brunch another day. It was great seeing you.” She chirped, told everyone a quick goodbye, including a “Nice to meet you, Dr. McCoy.” And led the way out, but not before sharing a look with Dr. Raff and her taller friend who hugged this last and proceeded to _give Hank a high-five_ before reaching the door and calling back “Great seeing you, dude!”

The room hell silent for approximately a millisecond of tension which was broken by Hank asking: “You know each other?” and pointing between them. “From where?” Somehow both scholars looked less tense. It might have been the initial shock.

“We met several years back at an… event for faculty while I worked in Boston.” She explained. Her voice was soft but felt powerful like a blade. Laden with danger if not used carefully. It also dripped an accent vaguely British that partially resembled Charles’ own.

“That’s right.” Was Professor Xavier’s quick response. “I had no idea we were coming here. Dr. McCoy only explained that we were coming to see someone who had lectured him at university.” He looked up accusingly at his friend.

At this, the woman chuckled. She seemed completely relaxed now. “Is that so, Hank? It’s not like you practically lived in my dorm and stole everything I managed to store in my fridge.”

Charles put two and two together so he couldn’t help but ask: “Is that how you met Dr. Dalton?”

Hank chuckled fondly. “Yeah, the three of us were actually pretty great friends. We studied together, you know? By the way, how did you meet Jessy as well?”

Charles remembered Jessy Dalton’s full name. “Uh… We crossed paths at some point.” He risked a glance at Raven who stared at him like she had him completely figured out. He was hiding something.

“So,” Dr. Raff said, rising from her chair and clapping her hands together “What can I help you with? And I think I didn’t get your name.” She finished extending a hand towards Raven, who introduced herself and shook it.

Hank proceeded to narrate a detailed explanation of exactly what the upgrades were going to be, the way the plane was going to be built and how Charles suggested making it power-proof. He implied something about knowing that she could do that and that he would like to know if she’d let him investigate how her abilities worked. She wanted to know exactly how he would attempt to apply biological characteristics to an aircraft, to which he went on to explain how he believed that most mutations had some form of manifestation that was beyond biological and could be represented in another way. He briefly referenced what Trask had tried to produce a decade earlier.

They were already a good thirty minutes into their conversation around several blueprints brought by McCoy that had been spread over a round table by the desk when the door opened wider from its ajar position and in stepped Erik who stopped dead in his tracks like he had seen a ghost, confusing everyone and leaving Raven with the question of “How did it go with the elevators?” hanging from the tip of her tongue until he spoke.

“Elizabeth.” His voice almost trembled, almost sounded like a sigh. But not quite.

“Erik.” Dr. Raff returned in a slightly firmer tone, but barely.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone. If you had already read the previous chapter, you'kl notice my OFC's name is different. This is because i changed the tags (Alex is going to be alive) and I didn't want there to be confusion when/if they're mentioned in the same scene. If this is your first time reading, ignore this.
> 
> At the end of the chapter I only wrote that they are going to pick up Peter (who is in Washington DC for some reason) just because I'm not american (therefore I know nothing about US cities/geography) and I didn't realize that it would be completely pointless to take a plane from Westchester to Manhattan, so I had to make up an excuse for that.

For a moment that went on a little too long, the air became dense with a mixture of surprise, confusion, and from the scarce emotions that could be retrieved from Erik’s face, hurt.

“Wait, what? You two know each other as well?” Hank scratched at his hair. There was a hint of an unspoken “I need a drink” in his tone of voice.

This shook Erik awake. He snapped his head in Hank’s direction instead of Dr. Raff’s – or Elizabeth’s – “What do you mean by ‘as well’?”

“Charles knows her.” Raven provided.

Xavier cleared his throat awkwardly, sensing turmoil coming off Erik and purposely abstaining from entering his thoughts. If there was an issue, he’d rather discuss it directly and not form judgements beforehand if it had anything to do with his friends. (Actually, this friend in particular.)

“That’s right. How did you meet?” He asked politely to both of them, trying to appear interested but not nosy.

Erik opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, still not fully recovered from what was for some reason a bigger shock to him than what had been for Charles. Raven started wondering what the hell was going on with this woman and why both mutants reacted so oddly to her whilst Hank was perfectly fine joking around and sharing past stories.

“I met him during my time in Italy some years ago.” She cleared up. She was still on edge.

“Oh? You’ve been travelling. I though you would’ve, uh, settled down at some point.” Charles added in a conversational tone, not missing how Elizabeth had begun looking through one of Hank’s notebooks while Erik’s eyes remained trained on her.

She looked back at him with amusement. “I’ve travelled my fair share. Strictly professional, though. This line of work doesn’t exactly let me stop for too long. And I’ve been far too busy to dedicate myself to anything personal.” She chuckled in a way that was bitter if you paid close attention.

Hank laughed. “You should try, though. As far as I know you haven’t made time for anything personal since you’re like, twelve. Keeping your ridiculously high goals and everything.” Raven suspected he was a bit oblivious to whatever drama was going on, but it helped lighten the mood.

Dr. Raff smiled. “Let’s get back to this, shall we? We can all trade stories over coffee some other time.” Raven looked at Erik disapprovingly and it didn’t take being Charles to figure out that she meant “You’re explaining this later.”

“Okay, so as I was saying before,” Hank started and Erik approached the table but still stayed at an appropriate distance. “I would like to measure in which ways your abilities affect the environment to maybe create individual gadgets that re-enact what you can do. I would only use non-invasive procedures, and in fact most sensors probably wouldn’t even be on you.”

Raven held her arms in front of her and said “Hold on. Everyone here knows you and what you can do, I assume, but I only have a very vague idea and frankly I didn’t understand anything Hank told me about it.”

“I can control anything that can affect the environment or surroundings, objects or people. If any sort of physical phenomenon takes place that can affect the behaviour of something, either from a natural, mutant or man-made source, I can control it, but not create it. It’s easier with strictly physical forces or factors, be it energy, heat, light, waves, etcetera.” Elizabeth explained.

“Therefore… you can manipulate magnetic fields.” Charles stated looking between her and Erik. She nodded smugly.

“Care to demonstrate?” Raven proposed.

“Sure. Why not?” Dr. Raff agreed, smug once again. She pulled out a metal card holder from the top drawer of her desk. “Unless you disagree.” She challenged, looking directly at Erik.

His jaw clenched, but not in uncomfortable way like it had more than a couple of times since he came in. If there was one thing that brought him back to his own self, it was a challenge. “Not at all.” He assured gravely.

Dr. Raff threw the card holder to the opposite corner of the room. “Bring it to you. Slowly.”

Erik started doing so with a hand outreached where he expected to place it, but he never broke eye contact with her. After several seconds, when the card holder was mere inches from his fingertips, it quickly retracted and was flung at the wall where it had come from, and remained stuck there, lightly vibrating flat against the surface.

Elizabeth stared straight back at Erik. Charles’ stare switched between both of them but settled on Erik as well. Raven and Hank shared a look. “That’s cool. How are you doing it?” Raven asked, tying back her curly hair into a loose ponytail.

Elizabeth was unfazed, and the card holder didn’t move from where it was. Both mutants kept their gazes locked. “I’m inverting his magnetic field.” She told her keeping a straight face.

“You can stop doing that.” Erik said in a normal tone.

“I’m not going to.” She answered.

“Stop it.” He insisted.

“You should stop first.” She smirked.

“That’s not going to happen.” He retorted.

“Fine.” She grinned, and the card holder flew across the room in an instant until it was stopped mid-air a hair away from Erik’s nose. He looked at her annoyed.

“Told you that you should’ve stopped first.” She giggled. It was mildly intimidating how fast she could go from serious and scary to relaxed and borderline immature. Hank was trying not to laugh, meanwhile Raven did just that without concealment. Charles’ mouth just felt dry. He swallowed audibly and exhaled air he didn’t know he’d been retaining. His left index finger was white from how hard he had been pressing the arm of his wheelchair and he blinked rapidly a couple of times. He kept his attention on Erik, who now held the card holder with disconcerting delicacy. It wasn’t even a fragile accessory.

“I’d forgotten how good you were at that. Please come to the mansion, I think it could really work.” Dr. McCoy pleaded, pulling Xavier out from his own thoughts for once.

“I could arrange that.” Dr. Raff answered. “I’ll be there before lunch tomorrow.” She confirmed after skimming her leather planner.

“Fantastic. It was great seeing you, hopefully you can tell me what you’ve been up to all these years as well tomorrow.” Hank hugged her goodbye. She laughed and agreed. She shook Raven’s hand again and said it was nice meeting her. They both waited by the door while the other two mutants, standing beside each other right at the front of her desk, tried to say goodbye without making it awkward.

“It was good to see you again.” Charles smiled, always trying to be polite, but his hands fidgeting over his lap gave him away. “I’ll look- I’ll see you tomorrow. If I go by Dr. McCoy’s lab, that is. Just in that case.” He rambled awkwardly. Elizabeth smiled knowingly but was nice nevertheless. He didn’t wait for Erik and wheeled himself in the direction of the door. Behind him he heard Erik say after a pause:

“It _was_ nice seeing you.”

“You as well.” She replied in a soft voice. “We’ll talk tomorrow, if you want.” She added.

He didn’t say anything but now he was walking back to meet the rest of the group, so he must’ve just nodded. The office chair squeaked as Dr. Raff sat down again. They left the room.

Once they were back inside the (now functioning) elevator, Raven broke the silence. “I have no idea what was all of that in there, but you better clear everything up.”

“I have no idea what you mean, Rave. I was simply taken aback. I should’ve known it would be her when I couldn’t sense her inside the room. She’s the only person I’ve met who can do that, and I didn’t notice. It was a big surprise, that’s all.” Charles cleared up sternly. “Just frustration.” He smiled. Someone might believe that, but his childhood friend wasn’t one of those people.

“I didn’t even know she could do that.” Erik provided. Something bittersweet tinted his words.

“The magnetic field thing? It looked as if you’d done it before. You seemed out of practice, though.” Charles snickered in the same tone Erik had used.

“No, I mean blocking you. I can’t recall you telling me there was anyone who could do that.” Erik countered, defiant.

“I can’t recall you ever telling me you were in Italy.” Charles continued. “Amongst other things.” He muttered.

The elevator doors opened.

Erik scoffed, walking slightly faster than the rest and getting ahead. “You have no idea.”

“Oh really?” Charles said mockingly. “That’s so convenient. Do tell me, Raven, Hank, had he told you any of these things?”

Both shook their heads, but Raven broke in “Don’t throw us into this.” Then she corrected herself. “And in fact _you_ hadn’t told us either.”

“Irrelevant.” He said. “I’m not the one who seriously needs to open up more.” He spit out. “It’s for your own good, my friend.” He said markedly but in a significantly softer voice as he matched Erik’s speed and wrapped his hand around his friend’s forearm. When Erik looked down, lips set in a flat line, he saw the true concern in the creases around the professor’s eyes.

“Maybe you should take a look at yourself, then. There are a couple of things you could learn from that. Hank agrees with me, probably.” Erik offered.

“Yeah, that’s true.” Hank said resignedly. “You need to start thinking about yourself too, man.”

Charles seemed outraged. “When did this turn into a conversation about me? I’m perfectly fine.”

“You’re not, but as you said, irrelevant. Now please, stop the banter until we get on the jet. Hank, I’m sorry, but I’m piloting now. I won’t be able to endure an hour of both of them.”

All three men looked offended. Hank sighed “Fine, but after we pick up Peter, I’m flying us back to Westchester.”

“Fair enough.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not updating recently. I managed to write every day but never got around to finishing this chapter. I guess it can be considered a filler, but the good stuff will be coming soon.

“Shit” Charles mutters, pushing his hair away from his face and looking at the wheelchair in defeat. A few minutes earlier, he had woken up and tried to roll by himself onto his wheelchair but in his groggy haze, ended up pushing the chair a good 10 feet away from his bed.

“I can do this, I can do this.” He mumbled to himself as he regretted every choice he’d ever made and, by pushing himself off his nightstand and doing an indescribable manoeuvre, slid his way to the floor without too much pain. In the process, though, he dropped a box, some pens and a picture frame that were atop the table. Because of this, Hank pushed the door ajar and poked his head in to ask the professor if he needed help, only to find him in his robe crawling towards the chair, bringing all his bedsheets with him, tangled around his feet.

He offered help, and after telling him no twice, Charles gave up and let his friend push him up. He had just wasted fifteen minutes of his life for being stubborn. For a fraction of a second he wondered if that was how Erik felt most of the time, but he waved off the thought.

The two of them started making their way down the hall towards the kitchen when Hank started chatting: “Elizabeth should be arriving here in about 5 hours. Are you going to be okay with that?”

Charles scoffed “Of course, why wouldn’t I be?”

Hank looked unimpressed. “Because there was obviously something tense between the two of you. If you’re going to let that get in the way, don’t worry, you can just not talk to her considering she’ll be in the lab the whole day. I’d prefer that rather than you trying to act like everything is fine.”

“There was never a problem between us, just so we’re clear.” Charles’ voice sounded at least an octave higher and Hank tried not to laugh.

“I said ‘tense’, not ‘problem’.” He reiterated. Charles fervently nodded. “I’m leaning more towards ‘getting involved with a colleague’” Hank pretended to consider.

Charles rolled his eyes in disapproval. “Please don’t say that.” He sounded strained.

Hank snickered and stopped mid-stride. “Oh my god. That happened. I mean, I wouldn’t put it past _her,_ but you? Oh my god. You slept with her.”

Charles had stopped as well and was so uncomfortable it pained Hank. “Okay, yes, fine. I did, but it was like twenty years ago. Please don’t bring it up again. It would be easier to pretend like nothing happened if she actually looked twenty years older and not exactly the same. I could pretend she was someone else, but no. For once I wish I was wrong on my theory that all mutants aged slower. I had hoped there were exceptions, but clearly, she isn’t one of them.”

Hank tried to hide his laughter. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think you’ll find any exceptions, at least not in this mansion.”

Charles shook his head and began moving again. “Let’s just have breakfast.”

Hank matched his pace but didn’t drop the subject. “You can’t act jealous around her, it will make things weird. For all of us.”

Xavier glanced at him, scandalized. “What on Earth do you mean by that? I’m not jealous. If you mean jealous of Erik because they knew each other, that is not at all the case. It is none of my business, plus it was only ever a fling. We slept together once! Well, we did have to lecture together the following evening, but that’s irrelevant. Also, she said she had only been travelling professionally, so that wouldn’t leave her time to get involved with anyone, right? Must have been on business in Italy. Maybe Erik pretended to be a buyer of some sort. He must’ve been looking for Shaw back then? It couldn’t have been later, he was at the Pentagon- I’m not jealous.” He finally shut up.

“Charles, I’ll be completely honest with you. She was my best friend during college, I know things about her, and one of those things is that Italy is extremely important to her. Once she’s made enough money, she bought a villa in Tuscany, where she has an art studio. It’s the one place where she doesn’t take her work along at all, considering she _is_ working ninety-nine percent of the year, so I’m sorry, but I actually highly doubt she met Erik on business.” Hank realized he was pushing more than he should, but a cruel part of him enjoyed it.

“Hank, you’re not helping.” Charles provided as they entered the kitchen. His friend apologized, not really feeling sorry at all, though he added: “But are you sure you’re okay with her coming over?”

“It’s _fine,_ really.” He replied, controlling how much exasperation he let seep into his tone.

As Charles placed smoked salmon on top of his bagel, a disgruntled Erik walked – _no, glided_ into the kitchen with grace commonly not associated to the early hours of the morning.

Charles cleared his throat. “Good morning. Would you like some coffee?” He asked, holding up the freshly brewed pot.

His friend answered bitterly. “Good morning. Yes, please.” Charles tried to credit it on poor sleep and not something else (like, _god forbid, something he had done_ ).

“Erik.” Hank acknowledged. He only received a small, forced smile as Erik sat on one of the stools at the kitchen aisle, as far away as he could from Charles, who started pouring the liquid into a white mug that was most certainly _not_ Erik’s usual (favourite) mug. He glanced up at the cabinets’ see-through doors above Charles’ head and saw his mug right there. He willingly projected his annoyance, making sure Charles felt it without needing to actually access his mind.

At that moment, Raven walked in, dressed in her training gear. “Morning everyone.” She greeted and received their respective responses.

“Good morning, dear.”

“Hey, how did you sleep? Do you want breakfast?”

“Mornin’”

She rolled her eyes, declined the breakfast offer with a “No, thanks Hank, but I already ate. I’ve been training since two hours ago”, and quirked an eyebrow at Erik who was attempting to burn a hole through the table with his intense stare and playing with the hem of his t-shirt’s collar.

“So, uh, would any of you grandpas like to help me out training the children this morning?” She asked, nodding at their questionable bed attire: Charles silk pyjamas and old-fashioned velvet robe, Hank’s suspicious woollen vest and Erik’s second-hand brown and maroon striped robe (which she was sure he must’ve stolen from a junkie living under a bridge, but she wasn’t going to mention it. “Peter, it’s hideous, and I’m sure it hasn’t been washed since he was born.” She once said. “Oh, no. It’s pretty clean, actually. It smells like sea breeze. The stains aren’t coming out though.” He had answered.)

“Sorry, can’t. Gotta work with Elizabeth when she gets here in a while.” Hank replied.

“I apologise as well, but I must review a class for this afternoon. I really needed to update the syllabus for our mutant politics course.” Charles chuckled.

“I have… something to take care of.” Erik settled and moved his chair back with an unpleasant screech. He hastily stood up and sauntered off through the hallway, coffee in hand, back hunched over with remaining sleep and robe flapping majestically behind him, as if it were his usual cape.

Charles frowned and shook his head in disbelief. “Always so dramatic.” He then wheeled himself through the French doors out onto the terrace and called back “I’ll take a stroll around before heading to class. See you later.”

Hank leaned against the counter, worrying his lip and rubbing a hand over his mouth. “Well…” he began “that went… awfully.”

“What’s going on? I don’t even get it. Why are they suddenly acting like an old couple fighting over who wins custody of their cat?” She pondered.

Hank chuckled “I really wouldn’t like being that cat.” But he got serious prudently. “Listen, I talked to him. He’s very tense and… he admitted something about Elizabeth.” He crossed his arms over his chest and looked over his glasses at the other mutant.

“What was it?” Raven was truly interested, and wouldn’t admit it, but worried, too.

“Charles told me that he met her a long time ago, during his time at Oxford.” Hank told her and hesitated before continuing. “They slept together, hadn’t seen each other since, and he does know, deep down, that he’s overreacting.”

Raven pinched the bridge of her nose “I hope you’re joking. Oh my god, I might’ve even met her and not remember it! We were always together whenever we went to a bar and he’d always desert me for someone he’d just met.”

Hank couldn’t help laughing. “I’m sorry, I just can’t possibly picture what a twenty-something-year-old Charles was like. He’s so different now in comparison to the way you tell me he used to be.”

Raven shook her head. “You have no idea.”

“I think you should talk to Erik. He more or less trusts you. It might be good to have both angles so that we can solve whatever is going on between them.” He provided.

“Jesus Christ I didn’t sign up for this.”

In that moment, Peter decided to let himself in. “’Sup guys.” He greeted, and when he saw their sullen expressions, asked: “What’s going on?”

“You don’t even want to know.” Raven settled and stormed off. Hank gulped down the rest of his coffee, shrugged and left in the same direction.

Peter only cared about one thing though: Corn Flakes or Granola?


End file.
